Sri Lankan jailed over abusing woman at knifepoint

A Sri Lankan cook has been jailed for five years and two months for getting drunk and then forcing himself on his female colleague and raping her at knifepoint at her friend’s flat in Dubai.

The 23-year-old defendant, W.S., sexually assaulted the 23-year-old Belarusian woman at knifepoint and issued death threats while he was drunk in May 2014.

The Dubai Court of First Instance had earlier modified the charges from molestation to rape at knifepoint when W.S. told the bench of judges that he had consensual sex with the victim.

Presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat sentenced W.S. to five years in jail for rape and threat and two months for getting drunk.

According to Monday’s ruling, the accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment.

The defendant had claimed to court the he had consensual sex with the woman.

“I did not do anything by force or threaten her with a knife. She lied about using force and having sex with her at knifepoint… it was consensual sex,” he contended in court.

The cook also admitted that he had consumed alcohol but denied the accusation that he had held the knife in the woman’s face.

“She is the one who grabbed the knife and held it to my face,” W.S. told the court when he defended himself.

The woman told prosecutors that she was at her friend’s place using the internet when she was assaulted.

“The defendant knocked on the door and, when I answered it, he asked if my friend was present; he forced his way into the room once he learnt that my friend was out. He pushed me in and closed the door. He grabbed a knife from the kitchen and asked to have sex with me; when I refused, he pushed me down on the couch and held the knife to my face. ‘Do you want me to kill you or rape you?’ he said with the knife placed at my throat. I begged him not to harm me and leave me alone. I offered to give him my jewellery and money to let me go. When I tried to escape, he pulled me by my hair and prevented me,” said the woman.

“When I told him that my friend’s flat-mate might arrive soon, he took out the key from his pocket and put it in the lock. He told me that he wanted to rape me. Then, when the phone rang, I told him that it was the security since they had heard me shouting. Then I opened the door quickly and ran away,” the woman claimed.

Records said the woman informed the building’s security, who reported the matter to the police.

A Pakistani security guard testified that the woman was in tears when she informed him that she had been sexually assaulted.

“The defendant claimed to me that when he discovered that the woman had been cheating on her boyfriend, she fabricated the molestation charges,” the guard said.

A policeman said the defendant was too drunk to be questioned.

Monday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days. - Gulf News